The directions I was given led me readily to the home in Chula Vista where I was invited to join the book club that had read my book, Blinded by Progress. What an engaging time we had! Not right away. As I was told, “We gather over finger food and gossip for the first hour. Then we discuss the book of the month for the next hours.” The food was delicious; the “gossip” mild and respectful—caring and empathetic at times.
When time came to discuss the book, we didn’t actually delve into the chapters of the book at all. Instead, we talked for MORE than an hour about its themes. I enjoy that approach every bit as much as “discussing the book,” provided we stay on topic. And we did.
Here’s a sampling of what moved along the conversation—all topics I loved responding to and loved hearing their thoughts about:
- Are you a capitalist or a socialist?
- What does a OneEarth economy actually look like? Is anyone doing it? Give some examples.
- How can we bring population under control and into balance with other species? Opposing control of offspring, by religion or politics, just doesn’t fit with today’s reality.
- Can we really have economies with strength if they are not growing? How?
Quick thoughts about each of these four are all that fit within this blog. The fuller, richer conversation will remain with the club. Here goes:
- The capitalist-socialist debate is tired. The two economic models have both shown themselves to be acutely MultiEarth. Today we need economic models that can generate healthy bioregions rather than primarily deplete them.
- Our species lived a OneEarth economy until “the civilization project” began 12,000 years ago. Since then, many Indigenous Peoples have updated practices for today while still preserving their OneEarth worldview and many essential practices. Though some forms of global trade and exchange contribute to wellbeing, the current model of globalization undercuts it. OneEarth economies revovle around local bioregions as their primary center. Contemporary examples? Search out The New Economy Coalition, Gar Alperovitz, Riane Eisler, and participatory cooperatives.
- The single biggest thing we can do for species balance is to intentionally educate and empower girls and women to be such full participants in societies worldwide that the structures of patriarchy—far too tilted toward domination, control, and concentration of resources—are replaced with structures of sharing and cooperation.
- Some kinds of growth are part of a OneEarth economy. Growth must mimic the circular growth exhibited by healthy bioregions. Herman Daly, former senior economist at the World bank, and the Center for the Advancement of Steady State Economics (CASSE) are only two examples working out the details of strong economies that do not measure their strengths by how much they grow.
And now you’ve been a fly on the wall at a book club gathering that I’m giving FIVE STARS! 